Using a stair lift

One thing you need to try to determine is if she will comply with the "rules" of being on the lift...keeping hands and feet in safe places, staying seat belted into the unit.

I know it is an expense, but you might be better off trying to upgrade your powder room or add a disability accessable bathroom on the first floor, unless at some point you expect to keep her only on the second floor.

Is adding a shower out of the question? Once incontinence starts, having a shower for clean-up would be critical. Otherwise, perhaps you can add a heated bidet now in hopes that she'll become comfortable with it so that can be an option for cleanup.

I would look into a wheelchair lift in lieu of a ramp. ADA guidelines are 1' of ramp for each 1" of rise-- 8 x 8" steps would be over 60' long.

HB

Someone just a few days ago said there was some kind of what I'd call a "portable shower" that could go next to the bed. I know nothing about them, but it might be more doable than running new drain lines. Maybe worth a Google search?

Whatever you come up with, I think some kind of shower is a must have at some time in the disease. Do you have a basement? If so, there might be a different option for drainage.

I am not affiliated with the following...just googled portable handicap shower.

https://liteshower.com/standard.html

I understood that.

I just wanted you to understand the scope of what you are considering. Sixty feet of ramp will not only require a significant piece of property, but also extensive materials and labor costs and approval of any HARP, municipality and/or HOA involved. My lot is an acre, but I would probably regrade to bypass my 2 steps into the house as my HOA would fight me on decking material or steel. The house next door was built for a woman with MS; she had a raised walk installed to eliminate her single step.

I have a friend whose mom had dementia; she and her husband did new construction in order of accommodate mom's care in their home. They had a 2 1/2 acre lot and regraded the lot in the back which enabled them to take mom out of the car from the garage, and onto a ramp in the backyard (which also accessed a pergola and mom's garden) which ran to a deck and into their French doors.

HB

My spouse was at home until the last year of his life. We have an old home, with the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs as well as steps to enter the house. Around the time I was wondering about moving or making modifications to our home, he quickly became unable to walk at all and was bedbound. I made a room for him downstairs by installing curtain dividers, on spring loaded curtain rods. The bathroom was not an issue since he was incontinent by then and I was changing him. Bathing was sponge baths. Hospice was involved for those years and gave me much help and advice on how to care for him. I'm glad I didn't make expensive modifications to our home because they would not have helped much or for very long.

This is just my input on a ramp. My church decided to volunteer me to build a ramp for someone in the community who had a need. And following the Ada guidelines, I ended up making a ramp 48 feet long with a large landing in the middle. 1 inch per foot is an easy slope. Barring rain or snow of course.